


i have a feeling we're not in kansas

by ChibiFrieza



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Warning - implied rape of a minor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 19:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1176879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiFrieza/pseuds/ChibiFrieza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam lost Dean.  He's going to get him back.</p><p>Or, the one where Sam is the unsub in 7.17 of Criminal Minds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i have a feeling we're not in kansas

The pieces are coming together nicely.  Soon he'll be finished.  
   
It's not something he's tried before.  Dad would probably tell him it can't be done, but Dad doesn't know everything.  Sam learned that the hard way.  
   
He's made good progress today.  Miscalculated a bit, left a little more of a mess than he meant to, but he did what he needed to, got what he came for.  One step closer.  
   
Lightning flashes outside, thunder following seconds later.  Sam cocks a halfhearted ear, but the weather patterns on the laptop screen in front of him show a depressingly mundane storm front.  No tornadoes tonight.  
   
Tomorrow, probably.  He's starting to get a sense for this.  
   
___  
   
 _Dad's out of town again and Dean's out getting groceries and Sam is almost positive there are no monsters at the arcade.  He has silver and salt with him and he's going to be home before Dean even gets back.  He just wants to try and beat Bubble Bobble one time, that's it.  
   
He's almost at the last boss before he dies again, and he only had fifty cents.  He should get going anyway.  Dean'll be mad if he gets back and Sam's gone._

 _There's a man outside the arcade.  Hey, kid, help me find my cat?  The man doesn't look too upset, but Dean always tries really hard not to show on his face when he's scared or sad, and this man's had longer to practice.  
   
Okay, says Sam, but I gotta be fast, my brother's waiting for me.  
   
Oh, sure, says the man.  Fast.  You got it.  
 _  
______  
   
When the rain lets up a bit, he hangs the Do Not Disturb sign and takes the car out.  One more piece of this puzzle, that's all he needs.  It has to be perfect.  Fast.  It has to be fast.  There's another one coming tomorrow and he can't miss it.  It's almost done.  
   
He turns the key, feels the rumble of the car coming to life around him, then the crash of Metallica fills his ears like thunder following lightning.  It's been a while since Dean got to listen to this album, but he'll be back soon. 

The rain picks up again as he tools around the streets, eyes wide, searching.  Slowly he passes fluorescent-sick storefronts, black alleys, dim orange sidewalks reflecting slick pointillism.  The red of a stoplight spreads like blood over the wet asphalt.  Umbrellas hurry along, sharply purposeful, heedless of the odd crumpled heap of humanity huddled uselessly against the storm.  
   
The headlights catch on something stationary, a pair of brothers tall and short, protective and protected.  The little brother is lost in a hooded sweatshirt and his brother's encircling arm; the older brother- Sam slows even further, breathless.  
   
Perfect.  He's perfect.  
   
____  
   
 _Dean is yelling from far away and the man is gone suddenly, leaving Sam in the alley with no air.  After a moment that feels like everything and nothing, Dean is there, and Sam breathes.  Chokes.  
   
Sammy, oh, god, Sammy, are you okay, did he hurt you?  Sammy, look at me.  
   
Sam can't look at him.  
   
Dean, he.  Dean.  
   
Dean shakes him.  Sammy.  You have to talk to me.  What did he do?  
   
Sam looks at him finally.  Can't say anything except, Dean.  
   
Dean curses, more filthy words than Sam has heard all at once before, even when Dad got claws through his shoulder that one time.  
   
Then he says, can you stand?  
   
_____  
   
The eyes, the jaw.  The protective posture.  It's him.  
   
Sam has to make sure.  
   
He parks a little ways off, walks back to where the boys are huddled waiting on the sidewalk for something that's not coming.  
   
Listen, I thought I saw a drugstore around here, but I got a little turned around, he says.  Innocent, low threat.  Shouldn't raise flags unless the kid's got hair-trigger early warning.  
   
He has.  Draws his brother into him a little before he speaks: Just around the corner up ahead there, you can't miss it, and Sam is dizzy with joy on the inside as he thanks the kid and offers a ride somewhere maybe, this rain is brutal, you sure you wanna be out in this?  
   
No, thanks.  We're good.  
   
You sure?  
   
Dude, step off.  We're fine.  
   
Sure, fine.  Sam backs off.  Goes back to the car, spares an extra glance for the kid before he pulls around the corner.  
   
Perfect.  
   
_____

 _Sam says one thing on the way home:  
   
Don't tell Dad.  
   
Dean's face does this funny pinched thing when he says that and for a minute Sam thinks he's going to cry.  
   
I won't, Sammy.  I'll take care of it myself.  Don't you worry.  
   
It's not worry that's gripping Sam.  It's something else and it makes him want to die or vomit.  Maybe both.  
   
Don't tell Dad.  
 _  
_____

 

Humans are way easier than monsters.  
   
_____  
  _  
Sam doesn't want to get out of bed and Dean doesn't make him, just checks the salt lines and goes out with a grim face.  The wind howls like restless spirits all day.  
   
Dean comes back with a determined face and brings Sam a glass of water.  Sam drinks it.  Dean gets out the emergency Beretta and loads it and comes to sit on the side of Sam's bed.  
   
You wanna come with?  
 _  
_____

The kid makes relatively little noise when he comes around.  Sam made sure to cover his mouth – he always makes sure.  Plus the room's on the end and it's off-season, so he's extra-safe.  
   
Good thing, because Sam hears him all the way from the bathroom.  
   
Ignore the noise, man.  He doesn't get it.  
   
The hand in his is cold, but it will be warm soon.  Soon he won't have to keep the bathtub filled with ice.  He won't have to keep searching, soul-wearying, for the perfect pieces.  They're all here now.  
   
Dean is all here now.  
   
_____  
 _  
The motel is beyond decrepit.  It was probably a rambling guest house once but somebody cut doors in the front and divided it up with walls and now it's the worst excuse for a motel Sam has ever seen.  It's so appalling he almost forgets why they're here.  
   
Almost.  
   
The office is smack in the middle, rooms splayed out on either side, and there's a crappy little orchard on the end by the root cellar, trees whipped into a frenzy by the wind.  The day is dark with clouds and the air smells like lightning.  
   
Stay behind me, Sammy.  
   
As they approach, the tornado siren starts to whoop, and Sam is clinging to the back of Dean's jacket and shaking, actually shaking, Dad would be so disappointed, Dad can't know, Dad can't ever know.  
   
The butt of Dean's gun on the battered door sounds like the end of the world.  Louder than thunder.  
   
The hell're you doing here.  You wanna turn, pretty little-  
   
Dean raises the gun.  The man laughs.  It's a nasty sound, and Sam stays behind Dean.  
   
You forgot one thing, says the man, and then the gun's knocked out of Dean's hands and Dean's hauled off balance and screaming run, Sammy, run run hide get out of here Sammy and Sam is running but the wind is so strong, he can hardly move, and he looks up.  
   
The twister's coming straight at him.  
   
Instinct, sheer and thoughtless, turns him toward the root cellar.  
_  
_____  
   
Sam has to knock the kid out again to get him in the trunk, which is a shame, since he doesn't want to damage his head more than he has to.  It's the last piece, after all.  Perfect, like the rest.  
   
The trunk is capacious and fits the rest of Dean as well.  He'll be okay without ice; the tornado is coming soon.  
   
Sam needs to get there in time.  With all the pieces, this is it.  The tornado will give back what it took.  
   
_____  
 _  
Dad never really asks.  
   
There is a memorial, but they never find a body.  The motel was completely flattened.  
   
Thirteen years later, a tornado tears up the cemetery and destroys Dean Winchester's memorial stone.  
   
Sam takes it badly._

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [Livejournal](http://chibifrieza.livejournal.com/495787.html). Thank you for reading; comments are appreciated!


End file.
